


Inherently Good, Or Were We Broken Right From The Start? (Alternate Ending)

by dreamingKatfish



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Persona 5
Genre: Angst, M/M, Ouma is the big sads, Persona AU, Possibly Unrequited Love, also i have ideas now i guess lmfao, but that'd be cool still, cause that's how this feels like it's going to go, like what if someone lost their persona and ended up with a palace, never actually answers if that's the truth or not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-10-28 02:03:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20770721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamingKatfish/pseuds/dreamingKatfish
Summary: Hey remember that persona 5 au I wrote a while back for a saiou week? Yeah this was along the lines of what I was originally planning for the ending.





	Inherently Good, Or Were We Broken Right From The Start? (Alternate Ending)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Inherently Good, Or Were We Broken Right From The Start?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19261465) by [dreamingKatfish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamingKatfish/pseuds/dreamingKatfish). 

> As you can tell this is a lil alt ending to my fic Inherently Good, Or Were We Broken Right From The Start?
> 
> Hope yall like some angst while I'm busy writing a soulmate au

After dinner and hanging out for a bit Saihara and Ouma head back to LeBlanc to prepare a plan for Kirigiri’s Palace. Or at least that’s what they were supposed to be doing. But as per usual nothing ever goes to plan for Ouma. They were sitting around and trying to guess the codewords for her palace when Saihara asks, “How long have you known?” 

Ouma pauses with his guesses, he feels like they’re getting close though. Nevertheless, he returns the question back, “Know what?” In theory, it could be a lot of things. But Ouma knows better. It doesn’t mean he won’t act like he doesn’t.

Saihara tugs at his hat, “That I knew you were the Phantom Thieves.”

Ouma sighes, he couldn’t avoid this forever, could he? He's not sure if he should lie or tell the truth. Yeah, there’s no use prolonging it, Saihara would know he’s bullshitting if he tried. “Since we first met, back at the TV station.” He meets Saihara’s eyes, “You responded to Yumeno. And just so you know it’s been more than a month since then.” He knows Saihara would catch what Ouma was trying to imply.

Saihara tilts his head, “So you know that too then?”

“Did you really think you could sneak that past me of all people?”

“No, not really.”

“Good.”

Ouma looks back down at the phone in his hand and tries another guess. Saihara sits in a solemn silence. Eventually Ouma gets a guess right. A casino, of course. Okay it wasn’t really that obvious, but Ouma sure as hell was going to act like it was. 

But then Saihara breaks out of his thoughts, “… why?”

Ouma looks up at him, eyebrow raised, “Why what?”

Saihara clenches his fist on the table, “Why did you pretend not to know?” He glares at Ouma, “Why do you insist on acting like I’m not a lying murderer when you know better!?” He points roughly at Ouma. 

Ouma pockets his phone. “Why should I?”

Saihara is standing now, “I’m a danger to all of you! How can you be okay with that!?” Ouma remains impassive. 

“I’m not.”

“Well you sure aren’t acting like it!” 

Ouma stands with grace, tilting his head, “Maybe.”

Saihara stares aghast, “Is that all you have to say, ‘Maybe!?’”

“Would you rather I reveal to everyone the truth?” Saihara opens and closes his mouth, gaping like a fish. Ouma sighs, “I thought so. You want to be playing villain, but you can’t stand to actually hold the role.”

“You don’t know anything.” Saihara glares flatly. 

Ouma shrugs, “Maybe. But maybe I know more than what you give me credit for Saihara-chan.” Ouma clears their cups. “We spent a lot of time at this counter, just talking. You can figure out a lot by a person when just talking.”

Saihara flounders a bit and asks, “Why do you insist on this? I blackmailed you all and you said it yourself, it’s different from when everyone else did.”

Ouma sighs and put down the glasses, staring at the table he answers with another question, “Has our time together meant nothing to you?” His shoulders slump, “I thought you’d trust at least me enough to know you didn't even have to blackmail us. All you had to do was ask. We would’ve said yes. You ask me why I do I insist on caring,” Ouma turns to Saihara, “Why do you insist on making yourself out to be the villain here?”

“I’ve killed people Ouma-kun, I’m a monster. I’m everything the Phantom Thieves are not.” 

Ouma chuckles, but it’s so self-deprecating he wonders if he can even call it a chuckle. He shakes his head, “That’s where you’re wrong Saihara-chan.” Ouma comes back from behind the counter, “You’re not a monster. You’re just some kid in a shitty situation who didn’t know better.” Ouma puts a hand on Saihara’s shoulder, “You had no one when you went into the metaverse for the first time, did you? You did have anyone at your back. I had Momota and Yumeno, and the rest of the Thieves had us. We had someone to keep us on the right track. And even then, do you know what Momota and Akamatsu wanted to do at first? They wanted to kill Towa. But Yumeno convinced us otherwise with stealing hearts But that doesn’t make any of us monsters. I thought at the beginning of this that was true. But I’ve learned something through all of this, nothing is as simple as that. It’s easy to vilify until your faced with the same situation after all. We aren’t good people Saihara… but we aren’t bad ones either.”

Saihara stares at him wide-eyed, “… why do you want so badly to think I’m not evil?” Ouma sighes. “Why…? Why do you trust me?”

Ouma drops his hand and steps back, “You really don’t know do you?”

Saihara is beginning to panic, “Know what!? What are you talking about Ouma-kun?! Nothing you’re saying makes sense!”

Ouma cuts through all the bullshit, “I’ll only say this once so listen up! I want to trust you because I love you, you fucking idiot! And I’m willing to bet you would’ve realized that if you weren’t so busy trying to be the bad guy here!”

Saihara looks like someone shot him, he feels like it to, “… what?” He couldn’t believe it, wouldn’t believe it. “That’s not…” 

“Saihara, why would I lie about this?” Ouma hums, “Why would I insist on this so much if it wasn’t truth?”

“I-” Saihara doesn’t know what to say.

Ouma deflates, “Whatever. I was wrong, big deal. Just go home Saihara, goodnight.”

Ouma doesn’t look at Saihara as he hesitates before mechanically making his way out of the cafe. Ouma counts to fifty before locking up and turning off the lights. It’s not until he’s standing at bed does he realize that he’s started to cry. He punches the pillow and shouts. Though he loses his energy to do that quickly, He collapses onto his bed, planting his face in his pillow, muffling any noise coming from him. He wonders if it wasn’t worth it, these past couple months of never saying anything about Saihara’s betrayal. 

He’s honestly glad Yumeno is will Harukawa right now. He doesn’t want her to see this. He feels like someone took a hammer to his heart. He wishes he was enough, but as this day proved, he wasn’t enough. Maybe he would never be. Saihara is going to betray them and Ouma can’t stop him. Not without hurting him at least. Not without a fight at least. It’s not fair. Why? Why couldn’t things just go right for once for him? Why can’t he ever be enough? He wasn’t able to help the others. He wasn’t able to help Saihara. And he sure as hell can’t help himself. 

God he doesn’t deserve his persona does he? Saihara may not be a monster for not being a killer, but Ouma is. Maybe he’s not a murderer, but he might as well be. The others would be better off without him, wouldn’t they? It’s just his luck that everything he tries to do doesn’t work out. He’s not good enough. Hell he’s not even good. It’s easy to pretend with the others, but Ouma can’t lie to himself. He’s a shit person, through and through. He’d be surprised if he didn’t have a palace at this point. 

He falls asleep like that. Dark thoughts swirling in his head. And a heaviness in his heart.


End file.
